Existing savings accounts, investment systems, and related programs for individuals and organizations have significant limitations. In particular, traditional investment systems provide limited flexibility to individuals who wish to set aside investment funds for themselves or others. For example, with existing investment systems, an individual can either purchase specific investments, e.g., stocks, bonds, mutual fund shares, etc., on another individual's behalf, or can give the recipient cash with the intent that it be used to purchase investment vehicles of the recipient's choosing. In the first case, the recipient has little to no control over the investment decisions. Additionally, this approach can be inconvenient for the purchaser, who generally will be required to purchase the investment product through a broker or other financial entity purchase. On the other hand, gifts of cash or cash equivalents (e.g., checks) provide the grantor with little control over their disposition, because such gifts can be used for non-investment purposes (e.g., entertainment, travel, consumables such as groceries, gasoline, etc.). In short, traditional investment systems do not provide sufficient flexibility or convenience to individuals desiring to purchase variable amounts of investments as gifts or as personal investments.
There is thus a need for an improved investment system that overcomes these and other problems associated with the current investment programs and systems.